No, not a thread about Newcastle's ridiculous non-event this Summer. This is about the absolute lack of transfer activity within England full stop. Reason for posting this is I looked at Sky's list of 125 players in the lower leagues to watch out for and, honestly, it's staggering who's playing down there. To name a few who'll be (possibly) lining up this weekend; Callum McManaman, James McCarthy, Adel Taraabt, Loic Remy, Tom Ince, Jordan Rhodes, Charlie Austin, Will Hughes, Sam Byram, Anthony Knockaert, Liam Bridcutt, Matt Phillips, Scott Dann. I'm sure there's more I don't know much about, it just seems incredible to me that not only is NUFC's only foray into this market a LOAN deal for Remy, but that no other Premier League clubs have attempted to go for any of the above. Is Cardiff really Ince's only option? No takers for Rhodes in spite of scoring 70 goals in the last couple of seasons? McManamans' displays last year not enough for someone to take a punt? Or is it just that the price of Championship players has soared too much? The problem is, only a handful of these players have a realistic chance of getting to the Prem next year with their club sides, and even then - why wait a year? It's also a shame for the England side, as it would be great to see some players getting more of a chance rather than the likes of Sunderland hiring a cruise ship to pick up their 34 new recruits on a World round trip. What's happened to football?
I believe it's a case of English clubs overcharging other English clubs. We showed how you can buy a load of foreigners at ridiculously cheap prices and get to 5th on far less money. I know we got 17th this year but for clubs that can generally expect themselves to hover around between 8th and 14th it's probably worth the risk. A lot of clubs are naturally going to follow suit a bit. Hence Sunderland buying all things Italian
It does seem odd that many of the British talents mentioned are playing on a lower tier. With Manchester City spending pounds like water, Chelsea, Manchester United & Arsenal all on the brink of 'splashing the cash' and, possibly Spurs & Liverpool too if they cash-in on their wanted stars. It's not hard to see who will qualify for the European places already...
I think its a simple problem of Championship clubs knowing they can over-charge for their talent because of the 'premium' on british players
Yes, but then TalkSport this morning was all about Gordon Taylor's quotes about "the soul" of the game being destroyed. The two seem to be interlinked, for me. A complete lack of faith in English talent at the top table or inflated prices from Championship clubs - either way it's detrimental to the English game, surely? Maybe it's me, but I can see the line between Prem and Leagues widening. The lack of transfers up and down have really highlighted this more than ever, the fact that the powers that be will not feel Tom Ince can cut it, but then happily plod over and pick up someone from Pescara or Espanyol. Sure, the risk - financially - might be less, but isn't that offset by the fact that the chance it won't work out is greater? I think there needs to be a lot of reworking of our game, but I also wonder whether we could implement serious change being an EU member state? Sounds ridiculous, but I seem to recall reading that implementing a "minimum number of British players rule" now contravenes some kind of human rights equality issue as positive discrimination, or something equally fcking ridiculous.
Aw yeh it's definitely ruining the game. For elder fans in here the point will probably be easier to elaborate but I started watching football around 98 world cup where Gazza wasn't taken along with people like les ferdinand, le tiss, beardsley even We would kill for those players now. Christ at best we have Sturridge, Carroll and Rooney, our defence is beginning to look just as laughable. glen johnson our best RB!? Really? I understand what you mean about the ends justifying the means wih overpaying in british players but look at Sunderland and that's what you get. A team completely underperforming and that had players who were astounded at being fined for showing upp late to training. It just doesn't implore chairmen to continue sinking money into British players as much as i agree with you and wish they would. Forcing them to field british players is the best option but they already have a rule in place where a certain amount of players should have been at the club for atleast 3 years between 16 and 21 or something. Guess how clubs get around that, buying foreigners younger and even cheaper. It's a crisis for sure but it seems like as a country we're just acceppting it nowadays
